‘It’s a nightmare’: UK man sues NHS after receiving eight years of chemotherapy instead of six months |
A Warwickshire man is suing an NHS trust after a series of medical failings left him with permanent brain and sight damage and dependent on his parents for daily care. David Bown, 41, was prescribed chemotherapy for more than eight years despite clinical guidance recommending treatment for no more than six months in cases like his.Bown, a former IT systems manager and keen football coach from Atherstone, Warwickshire, was treated at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust after developing seizures around a decade ago. Scans revealed a low-grade brain tumour, which was surgically removed in 2016.Lawyers say the problems began immediately after the operation. Clinical standards require an MRI scan within 48 hours of brain surgery to identify potentially fatal complications. That scan did not happen. When imaging was finally carried out four days later, it showed bleeding and swelling on the brain, yet Bown was not sent back to theatre for emergency surgery. Instead, he remained on the ward while further scans were requested.During that delay, he suffered a stroke and later became comatose. Only then was he rushed back into theatre, where surgeons removed a blood clot, inserted a drain and carried out further tumour resection. While the procedure relieved the pressure on his brain, his legal team argue the intervention came too late to prevent irreversible neurological damage.
Years of unnecessary treatment
Afterwards, Bown was prescribed the chemotherapy drug temozolomide. Guidelines recommend six cycles, typically around six months, or, at most, 12 cycles for low-grade gliomas. Bown remained on the drug for more than eight years, continuing treatment until 2024.Independent experts cited by his lawyers say the prolonged chemotherapy exposed him to unnecessary risks, including a heightened chance of secondary blood cancersNow living at home with his parents, Bown has significant cognitive and visual impairments and requires daily support with medication, meals and appointments. He also experiences depression, which his legal team say is directly linked to the years of debilitating treatment.
David Bown had been living an active, independent life, working full-time, coaching football and socialising regularly before treatment/ Image via Brabners / SWNS)
“I went from living a normal, active life, working, coaching kids’ football, seeing my mates, to being completely dependent on my mum and dad for everything,” Bown said.“I trusted the hospital to do what was best for me but looking back, I just can’t understand why I was treated the way I was for so long.“It has taken everything from me.“I cry myself to sleep at night, I dream where I can see and then I wake up and I can’t see. It’s a nightmare.”His father, Steve Bown, told the BBC: “I would like to see all those people, the surgeons, the other doctors there, ward nurses, I would like to line them up against a wall and say, ‘this is what you did to my son’.”
Wider concerns at the trust
Further details provided via SWNS show that Bown’s case is not isolated. Law firm Brabners, which represents him, says it is acting for more than 30 patients who were prescribed temozolomide for far longer than recommended. One patient, the firm claims, remained on the drug for 16 years.All of the patients were treated under the supervision of Prof Ian Brown, a senior clinician who has since retired.
GV of the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. (Image: via Brabners / SWNS)
Fiona Tinsley, a partner at Brabners, said:“David was a young man with his whole future ahead of him.“The cumulative effect of these failings has robbed him of his independence, his health and years of his life.”She said evidence uncovered by the firm points to “systemic failings” across multiple departments at the trust, including neuro-oncology, neurosurgery, neuroradiology, nursing and pharmacy.“What began as concerns about chemotherapy in Coventry now points to systemic failings across a number of practice areas,” Tinsley said.“The human cost has been devastating. People were told they would have months to live without treatment and endured years of debilitating treatment, believing it was keeping them alive.”She added that patients had suffered physical, psychological and financial harm, including loss of fertility, early menopause and, in one case, secondary leukaemia requiring a stem-cell transplant. All, she said, had been placed at increased risk of secondary cancers.“These patients deserve answers, accountability and assurance that every lesson is being learned,” she said. “This is in the public interest.”The BBC reports that the Royal College of Physicians has been commissioned by the trust to carry out an independent review of 20 patients who received more than 12 cycles of temozolomide between 2017 and 2023.In a statement, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said: “We are committed to providing the safest possible care for our patients. As a legal claim is ongoing, we are unable to comment further at this stage.”